Many computing devices such as personal computers, desk top computers and various handheld computing devices include software that enables various types of media to be played or rendered on the device. Media-playing software can typically play or render digital media in the form of audio and video data. As an example, today people can insert a favorite CD into the CD receptacle of their personal computer and listen to their musical selection while they work on the computer. Further, technological advances in media playing applications have enabled people to not only store media content files (such as music and video files) on their computer for subsequent rendering, but have media content streamed to their computing device for rendering in real time.
One of the tools that has evolved in connection with various media-playing applications is the playlist. A playlist is a customized list of files that a user can define and which will be played or rendered by a media-playing application. A playlist can enable the user to group various media content together to be played in any order specified by the user. For example, a user can define a playlist that includes tracks from particular CDs, a radio station, and a video. The playlist groups the media content and stores the location of the media content so that the media content can be accessed at the appropriate time by the media-playing application and rendered for the user. Thus, playlists can enable a user to custom design their own media experience.
However, while playlists have, in general, provided the user with the opportunity to craft a custom-designed media experience, contemporary playlists suffer from a serious drawback that does not make the user experience all that it could be. Specifically, playlists are typically static in nature and are generally unintelligent. That is, the content that typically comprises the playlist (i.e. the list of files and/or content locations associated with content that is to be played) is generally fixed at the time it is authored and remains that way until the user physically edits the playlist. Thus, playlists at best tend to be flat lists of items that do not change until physically re-authored by a user.
Aside from the issue of playlists and their perceived inadequacies, a more fundamental problem exists and pertains to the inability of the user to have a user-specific media experience provided for them. Specifically, most often the user experiences media content passively. They may turn on a radio station or play a particular CD and are forced to passively listen to the content unless they proactively take some step to change the content to which they are listening. Yet, many users have strong opinions as to what they wish to listen to.
Accordingly, this invention arose out of concerns associated with providing improved media processing methods and systems—particularly methods and systems that can flexibly accommodate users on an individual basis. In addition, this invention arose out of concerns associated with providing improved playlists for use by media processing methods and systems.